Sadullah Ergin

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Istanbul, June 18, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a Turkish court's decision on Monday to censor media coverage of a hostage crisis in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Last week, insurgents led by the Al-Qaeda splinter group Islamic State in Iraq and Sham abducted at least 80 Turkish citizens, including 49 consulate staff and their families, according to news reports.

Today, hope for peace between the government
of Turkey and Kurdish rebels is closer than ever to becoming reality. A
resolution to the conflict, after more than 30 years, could have ramifications
for Turkey's standing as the world's worst jailer of journalists. According to CPJ research, three-quarters
of the journalists imprisoned in Turkey are from the pro-Kurdish media.

Turkey has
no business being the world's leading jailer of journalists. But the
numbers don't lie. With 49 journalists imprisoned for their work, according to
CPJ's annual worldwide prison census, released today, Turkey holds more individuals
behind bars than Iran (45), China (32), or Eritrea (28). How did Turkey find
itself in this situation? Unlike the other countries that top CPJ's imprisoned
list, Turkey has a relatively open and vibrant media. It is an emerging
democracy, a NATO member, and a candidate for European Union integration.

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More reporters are jailed in Turkey than in any other
country in the world. According to CPJ's recent survey, at least 61 are imprisoned
directly for their work, representing the second biggest media
crackdown in the 27 years we have been documenting such records. (Only Turkey
itself has rivaled the extent of this crackdown, when it jailed 78
journalists in 1996.) In the country hailed as the model moderate Islamic
republic, how is this possible?

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2. Assault on the Press

Nuray Mert, one of Turkey’s most prominent political columnists and commentators, had a long history as a government critic, but in the view of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, her comments last year opposing administration policies toward ethnic Kurds went too far. Erdoğan lashed out with a personal attack that implied Mert was traitorous, setting off a torrent of public vitriol—including threats to her safety—and prompting her politically sensitive bosses to cancel her television show and newspaper column.

5. Test of Political Will

On March 25, 2012, the day before the Nuclear Security Summit got under way in Seoul, South Korea, U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss a world of troubles. On the agenda were efforts to compel Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, and attempts to contain Iran’s nuclear program. Immediately after the Seoul summit, Erdoğan traveled to Tehran for meetings with the Iranian leadership. And the next week, Istanbul hosted the “Friends of Syria,” attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and diplomats from 70 other nations.